A Great Tit that should have been called Lazarus

Saving the life of a young Great Tit proved to be an extraordinarily satisfying episode for me (and presumably the Great Tit), out of all proportion to its significance in the wider world.


Earlier in the year a young Great Tit found its way into our kitchen and got trapped. Unfortunately we didn't find it until the next morning, by which time it was at death's door. In fact I thought it was a goner!

However, there were feeble signs of life and I wondered if it was dehydrated so I put a drop of water on the end of my finger and introduced it to the bird's beak.

There was an immediate reaction so having continued this process for a while I then dissolved some sugar in the water to give it energy and introduced this with a small syringe.

Having continued this for a while I then transferred the bird to a cardboard box in the hope that it would regain its strength.

In the meantime, I found a website that suggested feeding young birds with dog food using a toothpick. However as soon as I put my hand, with toothpick, into the box the bird jumped onto my finger.

At this point, it began to call for its parents and was answered almost immediately.

There was another challenge, though, as there were two crows lurking who clearly thought that a young distressed Great Tit might make a good breakfast. However, I couldn't guard the Tit too closely as that would deter its parents from coming to the rescue. The answer proved to be dismantling a bird feeder designed to keep large birds out, and putting the Great Tit inside. In fact, within a few minutes one of the parents brought it some food and it was soon persuaded to fly away back to its family.

All in all, a very satisfying Saturday morning, and probably one of the best things I've done for ages!